I'm a boomer in my seventh decade of life. Figure I'll live as long as God wants me around. Have military pension and SS, plus VA disability. Have a couple of very part-time things I do on the side. Not worried about running out of money, the pension, SS, and disability will last as long as I do, and there are normally annual cost-of-living adjustments.
One thing important to remember about SS is that while you are paying for my retirement, when I was in my primary working years the SS I paid went to finance those who were already retired. Also pay SS and Medicare from one of my part-time things. In addition, 85% of my SS is taxable, and I pay state and Federal taxes on the military pension. So it might be said I fund part of my military retirement check and a bit of my SS check.
Am sure SS will always be around, but with changes. Changes I look for are a gradual raising of the SS tax, and eventually no limit on income subject to the SS tax. This will have to happen, since we indeed have fewer workers paying for more and more retirees. And while the intent was never for SS to be a retiree's sole source of support, it's pretty obvious that SS is the only income for millions of retirees. Average SS retiree check for 2022 is $1657/month. But those 65 and over will have $170 monthly taken out for Medicare, leaving $1487/month, or $17,844/year. Not many places where a person can live on that amount alone. The amount of the SS check is a function of how much you earned during your working years. Know of people who got much less than the average when they filed at 62, and got an effective pay raise at 65, when they were able to collect SSI (Supplemental Security Income) instead. SSI is welfare, not Social Security, but the SS system administers it. A few states and the District of Columbia add money to SSI payments, and SSI recipients get Medicaid, can get food stamps, subsidized housing, etc. Nevertheless, it would be mighty hard for a single person to survive by themselves on SSI alone.
Having said that, the elderly here overall are still better off than in many other countries. China is scary. China has no national SS system as we know it. Many will draw pensions from their various work units. Government/Party workers most likely draw pensions from the Government/Party. Retired military likely get a military pension. But for many, their primary source of support is their child.
Until fairly recently, China had the Draconian "one-child" policy, to limit population growth. There were a few exceptions to the rule, but not many. This sets up the following scenario. I, son of a one-child family, am lucky enough to find a wife from a one-child family. There's a shortage of marriageable Chinese women due to the "one-child" policy; sons were favored, many abortions of female fetuses, infanticide of female babies.
My wife and I have a child of our own. One's enough, too expensive in many places to have more than one. All four of our parents are retired, not all of them have pensions. Unless my wife works, it's up to me to support myself, my wife, our child, and help support as many as four in-laws. Quite a tall order, but believe this is happening a lot in China.
China got old before they got rich, and they aren't that rich anyway. Japan got old and got rich. Smaller population, far easier to take care of their elderly. Russia - also getting old before getting rich, and their life expectancy has been fluctuating due to alcohol problems and overall bad lifestyles. Other countries have their own elderly-support issues, which will only get worse.
One big thing in America's favor - immigration, legal and otherwise. We get a lot of younger people who work at a variety of jobs. Keeps the USA from getting too old. Look for this trend to continue as long as the USA is worth immigrating to.
